Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-11-17
THE PORTLAND VASE.
| History of a Piece of Art More Famous
Than the Peachb1ow.

History of Piece of Art More Famous
Than the Peachblow.
In a certain way every body knows
about the Portland vase, and yet the
other day stumbled on an interesting
fact concerning it, little known or
rather forgotten in England. except
among collectors and connoisseurs in
art. At its sale the little peachblow
vase that Mary Jane Morgan was
forced to leave behind her did not
create half nor quarter OF the sensation
in America as did that of the Portland
vase in Europe. Now you can find the
latter in the British Museum. It is
kept in a transparent case in a small
ante-room devoted to an unequaled
collection of canoes, intaglios and
the miracles of Roman Etruscan and
Grecian work in gold. The atmos-
phere is fit one for this gem in glass,
found, in marble tomb, near 4 ONE,
four hundred years ago, and for near
ly three centuries treasured in the
famous palace of Barberini.
The vase stands only ten inches
high. It's shape is the perfection of
symmetry-broad at the center and
diminishing gradually at the base,
but to more marked degree at the
neck, and finally expanding there with
a fiower-like curve, the curve re-
peated again in the two handles. The
substance is glass of a rich but in
tensely deep blue, throwing into abso-
lutte relief classical and exquisite fig
ures in Opaque white glass. A micro
scope fails to detect flaw in the cut
ting of these groups, supposed to rep
resent the meeting of Thetis and Pc
leius on Mount Thelion in the pres
ence of Poissidon and Eros. On the
bottom of the vase is its most remark
able piece of cutting a bust of Atys
The English chapter in the history
of the vase began in 1770 when Mr..
Byser, the antiquarian. succeeded in
purchasing it. He in turn sold it to
Sir William Hamilton, who, unfortu-
nate in china as in matrimony, gave
it to the Duke of Portland for 1900
guineas, or about SO. 900. In the course
of time sale of the Portland proper
ty. including the precious ornament,
was held The Duchess of Portland. a
proud and imperious woman, was
present for the purpose of buying in
the vase. To her horror and disgust
she found competitor for its purchase
in the little, lame, pock-marked china
manufacturer, Josiah Wedgwood. To
the Duchess this was intolerable, and
she began the bidding in a spirited
manner, determined to speedily put
down the son of common Stafford
shire potter.
Wedgwood. however, was as deter
mined as the Duchess to become the
owner of the vase, and had higher
motive than family pride at the bot
tom of his desire. The bids rapidly
ran mp, and chill of fear seized the
Duchess as they mounted, for her purse
had its limits, and at last, in anger
and despair, she made her final offer,
was outbid, and rushed from the room.
In a few moments a message was
brought to Mr.. Wedgwood to the effect
that her Grace wished to speak with
him in private. What passed at the
interview no one ever knew with ex-
actness, but it is presumed that wom-
an in tears effected what Duchess
in anger could not-and won
from the gentle instincts of the work
mans son what the great and ambiti-
Gus art manufacturer never would have
conceded. At any rate, the Duchess
kept the vase, and Josiah Wedgwood
reserved the sole right for himself and
heirs to reproduce fifty copies Of it
every one hundred years.
In 1910 the Dake of Portland, who
justly felt that this famous work of art
should no longer be kept for the salts
faction of the few. placed it in the
British Museum, where it at once
brought visit from the art-lovers of
the world. Until 1845 it remained as
perfect as when plucked from the grave
four centuries before, but at this time
drunken mechanic, who in some way
got into the sacred ante-room, smashed
it with a stone into thousand pieces.
The bits were afterward collected,
and with infinite skill cemented by an
expert in such way that the seams
can scarcely be observed, while the
shape is preserved.-London Letter.